The Cheer Reader : Inside an American Institution

Wide-ranging essays on cheerleading, from the pep rally to the NFL sidelines to All-Star competitions, and why it matters.

A staple of Americana, cheerleading is right up there with Fourth of July fireworks and a slice of apple pie. Yet this often clichéd image of cheer belies its complex history and current status as a global industry made up of diverse participants and forms. Indeed, cheerleading—its culture, controversies, and evolution—has always offered a revealing lens on race, class, gender, and sexuality in American society.

Cheerleading was born in 1869 as a diversion for Ivy League men. The Cheer Reader collects fourteen wide-ranging essays on what happened next and why it matters: how cheer became feminized, sexualized, professionalized, even radicalized. Contributors examine the role of cheer in the Civil Rights Movement, a landmark student free speech case, and the emergence of queer cheer teams in the 2000s. Other essays consider cheer's record rate of injuries, social media "cheerlebrities" and eating disorders, and the working conditions of NFL and NBA cheerleaders. Amid these tensions between empowerment and objectification, cheer is only getting more popular, with some seven million participants worldwide. The Cheer Reader is a nuanced account of the activity they share and what it means today.